1. Physical Characterization of Hafnium Oxide Thin Films Annealed in Vacuum
- Author
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Václavek, Lukáš, Tomaštík, Jan, Nožka, Libor, and Čtvrtlík, Radim
- Abstract
Hafnium oxide (HfO
2 ) is a material characterized by a good mechanical, thermal and chemical stability and is used as a material in a variety of technological applications in optics and electronics. In this work the influence of annealing temperature on the mechanical structural properties of amorphous HfO2 thin film was explored. Films were deposited by electron beam evaporation and annealed in the temperature range from 200 °C to 500 °C in vacuum. Mechanical properties such as hardness and elastic modulus were determined using nanoindentation, while cohesive-adhesive properties of the film using a scratch test. Surface morphology was determined using a confocal microscope and structure using XRD. The transformation of amorphous phase of the films to the nanocrystalline monoclinic phase was observed after vacuum annealing at 500 °C. This crystallization leads to increase in hardness on one hand but also to growth of brittleness and in turn to decrease in scratch resistance on the other hand.- Published
- 2018
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